Category: Trees

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My “Lifer” Bird on this Trip

And for new readers, the explanation of “Lifer:” It is a bird that someone sees for the first time in his life. You can see on my “life list” that I have observed 552 species from many countries in the Americas and Africa, with 373 of those in Costa Rica. And that does not count this bird because I haven’t reported it on eBird yet! He was the only bird I got a decent shot of at the Cahuita National Park, though I got photos of 14 species of butterflies there! 🙂

It is just an inconspicuous little flycatcher, found only in lowland rainforests of Central America and the northern half of South America. I am pleased with these two shots of both front and side views! It is a Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Terenotriccus erythrurus (linked to the eBird description).

Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.
Ruddy-tailed Flycatcher, Cahuita National Park, Limón, Costa Rica.

You will note that I saw and photographed many more birds in Gandoca-Manzanillo (which is always the case) and those birds were linked to in an earlier blog post on Gandoca-Manzanillo which can be seen in the first sub-gallery created for this trip gallery: Refugio Gandoca-Manzanillo. It is a wildlife refuge with fewer people visiting than the national park and has always been a better place for birds than Cahuita for me. I photographed 9 species there, 7 species at the hotel and just this one at Cahuita, BUT IT IS A LIFER! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Flying to the Caribe Today!

Today begins what has become almost an annual tradition of spending a week in the Southern Caribbean of Costa Rica, during September when this rainy rainforest has the least amount of rain. After trying a few other hotels, I’ve settled on Banana Azul as my favorite and it is right on the beach (one of the few!) in a favorite room with balcony overlooking the beach and hotel gardens. It is one of my most relaxing weeks of the year! This Puerto Viejo area is south, near the Panama Border and quite different from my other Caribe fave which is north of the port of Limón and in a great wetlands wildlife national park called Tortuguero.

I have just two morning bird hikes scheduled, one in the Cahuita National Park and the other in Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge. Otherwise I just “hangout” at the hotel and beach, walking both the beach and a forested beach road where last year I found a bonanza of butterflies! 🙂

Sunrise at Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón.

Read on for some of my past creative endeavors from the South Caribbean of Costa Rica . . .

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A “Lifer” Bird for Me!

The other morning I had about four species of birds feeding on the flowers of my Cecropia or Guarumo Tree and one of them was a new species for me! A White-winged Becard, Pachyramphus polychopterus (linked to eBird). He is smaller than the Rose-throated Becard I’ve seen several of here and like that one is less colorful as a male. In this species the female is a golden orange or tan and more colorful than this male photographed here. Here’s three shots including one of him eating a caterpillar:

White-winged Becard, Atenas, Costa Rica
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And the Other Birds

From El Silencio, I shared the Trogon & Chlorospingus first and then the Hummingbirds and now here’s the “leftovers!” 🙂 Actually they aren’t all bad photos, but not as interesting as the other earlier-shared 4 birds. Six here, making a total of only 10 birds this trip compared to 23 the previous visit to El Silencio. The number of birds are way down everywhere this year! And no one has a good explanation.

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Common Chlorospingus or . . .

Middle America Bush-Tanager, Chlorospingus flavopectus, which is sporting a new name found only in my new 2023 Princeton Field Guide, Birds of Costa Rica (and online). And that is why I try to always have the latest bird guide because there are always changes in the names. eBird is currently using both names and even “Middle America Chlorospingus” as another option. This particular one is found only in Central America with a slightly different one in South America which I suspect is why the name change. I photographed this one from my porch chair at my cabin in El Silencio Lodge & Reserve last month. I’ve already featured the Collared Trogon and now this one from El Silencio and may do just one more bird post on all the others I photographed to keep from stringing the El Silencio posts out too far. 🙂 Or maybe one on Hummingbirds and one on all the others! 🙂 Here’s 3 of my porch shots of this nice little bird by whatever name! 🙂

Middle America Bush-Tanager, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica
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Red-tailed Squirrel

Though I tend to see more Variegated Squirrels in Costa Rica, this species is my second “most-seen” of the 4 Squirrels of Costa Rica. And I’ve photographed all 4 species as seen in my CR Mammals Gallery (scroll down to S’s for Squirrels) or you may prefer to go directly to my Red-tailed Squirrel Gallery where I have photos from 6 different locations in Costa Rica counting this new one. And interestingly, I’ve seen them on both slopes (Pacific & Atlantic) and in both lowlands and mountains, so they seem to be almost as universal here as the Variegated Squirrel. 🙂 Here’s two shots of a Red-tailed I found at El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro . . .

Red-tailed Squirrel, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Red-tailed Squirrel, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Alajuela, Costa Rica

See more photos of these and a lot of other wildlife in my 2023 El Silencio Lodge TRIP GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

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Mystical Footpath to Waterfalls

I had only one full day (along with two partial days) at El Silencio Lodge last month and on that full day it rained until after 2 pm, so it was nearly 3 pm before I headed out on what the lodge sometimes calls “Mystery Trail” for my 2 km hike mostly uphill to the three beautiful waterfalls that I shared photos of yesterday, then 2 km back to cabin before dinner.

But as is often the case, the journey is as beautiful or life-changing as the destination! And this was no exception! Every hiking trail is a “Mystical Footpath” to me and when I have more time than I did that day, I find exciting insects and lizards along every trail and in some places birds, monkeys, sloths and other wildlife! But this report is more on the trail and many streams along the way found in a photo gallery below this one pix. In the gallery you can click an image to see it larger and full-width or by clicking the first image you can go through all 12 as a manual slide show that you click through my story in pictures! Enjoy views from my Cloud Forest Hike of last month . . .

I take off on my hike!
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3 Waterfalls at Lodge

The three falls on the lodge property rival some of the big commercial falls in and around the little town of Bajos del Toro where there are 31 waterfalls you can visit! But these lodge falls are assuming that you are willing to walk 2km, mostly uphill to get to them and then they are fairly close together once you get to the first, which is Melody Falls. Then hiking back to your cabin is another 2 km, though mostly downhill and a lot easier and faster! 🙂 I was hiking solo, thus I did not wade into the stream for a better view of Melody Falls. Unfortunately I have history of slipping and falling on wet rocks! 🙂 So all of these photos were made from the dry trail or flat land by the three falls. Tomorrow I will share a few pix of the streams and other views along the trail to and from the falls which I think is almost as beautiful or interesting. But here’s one pix of each waterfall with it’s sign to identify it. And it works better if you go to the website to see them, so after the first one in emailed version, a link to the other photos in the blog post online . . .

The Silence Waterfall

El Silencio Waterfall, El Silencio Lodge & Reserve, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica
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Hummingbird in Ficus Tree

The other day I caught a few shots of this Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (the dominant and thus only species in my garden) in an unusual place for me, the dark shadows of the Higueron or Strangler Fig or Ficus Tree. I had to really work at lightening the shadows in these two shots but think the second one is particularly interesting because of how his head and neck are twisted around, unlike any photo yet of one of these, while this first shot is pretty traditional! 🙂

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica

See more in my Rufous-tailed Hummingbird GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!